Rio Tinto Ore Report Boosts Big Miner Stocks

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of the biggest iron-ore mining concerns in the world rose sharply Wednesday after one of their number, Rio Tinto(RTP Quote), said that it had to boost ore production during the third quarter in order to meet rising demand.

The Anglo-Australian company's chief, Tom Albanese, also made some bullish remarks, published along with the output numbers in Rio's quarterly operations review: "We are seeing early signs of recovery in some of our key markets."

Total iron-ore output increased 12% in the third quarter from a year ago, Rio said. Copper output was even stronger, rising 24% over last year.

Extraction of other raw materials declined, however, with thermal coal and bauxite down 12% and 16% from the year-earlier third quarter. Coking coal and aluminum output fell 5% and 4%, respectively.

Combined with several positive earnings reports from bellwether corporations including Intel(INTC Quote) and JPMorgan(JPM Quote) on Wednesday, the shares of Rio and its competitors, BHP Billiton(BHP Quote) and Brazil's Vale(VALE Quote), rode the wave of optimism into the green.

Rio's New York-listed American depositary receipts jumped nearly 6%, or $10.64, to $193.11. Vale and BHP issues, meanwhile, gained 7% and 4% respectively, to $26.73 and $71.17.

-- Written by Scott Eden in New York

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